Avatar Press Archives - Page 3 of 3 - Robot 6 @ Comic Book Resources

C2E2, the new Chicago convention brought to you by the makers of the New York Comic Con, will hold its inaugural convention this weekend at the Lakeside Center at McCormick Place. If you’re exhibiting at the show, debuting a new comic or just have some exciting plans for attendees you’d like to share, drop me an email and I’ll run it in one of the many round-ups we’ll be doing between now and Friday.

Also, I probably wouldn’t get anything good for Boss’s Day this year if I don’t mention that Robot 6’s own Brigid Alverson will be on a panel Friday night, titled “Old Media, New Media, Comics Media.” It’s moderated by Heidi MacDonald of the Beat and features several other comics media/blogging folks. So go say hi to Brigid at 7:45 p.m.

Michael May will also be at the show, and both he and Brigid should have some reports to file from it over the weekend. So be sure to check back for those if you aren’t in Chicago yourself. And if you are attending the show, here’s some stuff to check out …

…in the world of SUPERGOD, superhumans are the ultimate expression of the Messiah complex, and scientists can build Messiahs who will fly down from the skies to save the world. No-one thought about how they’d save the world — or even if they’d want to. So begins the apocalyptic tomorrow of SUPERGOD — the story of how supermen killed us all and ended the world just because we wanted to be rescued by human-shaped things from beyond Science itself. Take every superhero comic ever published, shove them into a nuclear-powered blender, soak it in bad vodka and set the whole thing alight — and SUPERGOD will crawl out and eat your brain.

SUPERGOD: praying to be saved by a man who can fly will get you killed.

G4’s Blair Butler shared the news that the Image Comics title The Sword was moving into its final story arc and will end with issue #24.

She also shows off artwork from the upcoming comic Captain Swing and the Electrical Pirates of Cindery Island, written by Warren Ellis and published by Avatar. I think it wins the best new title for a comic award hands down. Watch to learn more:

Welcome to another edition of What Are You Reading. Our special guest for this week is Chris Butcher, blogger and manager of The Beguiling in Toronto, generally acknowledged as one of the finest comics shops in North America.

Chris is heading off to Japan and taking quite a lot of books with him. What to know what he’s packing? Of course you do. Click on the link to find out …

But what is that new opportunity, exactly? Rich revealed a little bit about it via Twitter and on the WhiteChapel message board yesterday. “Next Monday. A new blogsite begins. BleedingCool.com. Imagine LITG four times a day, seven days a week. Bookmark the site… NOW!” he said on Twitter.

And on WhiteChapel, he revealed the new site is being funded by Avatar Press, “who have promised a hands-off editorial process, but whom I’ll give an Avatar Plug Of The Week to to keep them happy,” he wrote.

But Rich isn’t the only one contributing to the site; Warren Ellis posted on his blog that he’ll be writing something for it every week as well.

* The Same Hat guys reveal that Last Gasp will be publishing a new manga by Junko Mizuno this fall, entitled Little Fluffy Gigolo PELU Vol. 1. Adults only kids.

* Johanna Draper Carlson drops the news that the 600th issue of Archie will have him marrying Veronica in one of those “what will the future hold” type dealies. Apparently it’s part one of a six-part story.

* Speaking of big milestones, Evan Dorkin says the 500th issue of Mad Magazine is out on newsstands now, which is kind of amazing — to me at any rate.

I’m a late adapter about most things, but it seems especially true about Warren Ellis. I mean, I think he’s one of the smartest people in the room when talking about the future of comics, but I can count on one hand the number of stories I’ve actually read by him. Fell, Ocean, and Orbiter are the only ones that immediately come to mind. I know I should at least read NextWave; I just haven’t gotten around to it yet.

I could easily derail this article by trying to analyze why I haven’t read more of Ellis’ stuff when I really do love what I’ve read so far. I’ll skip that bit, but I think it has something to do with how smart he is and how I normally don’t equate “smart” with “exciting.”

I know I’m gonna get in trouble for that last statement, so let me explain. I don’t think that intelligent writing equals boring, but so much of what I read from Ellis – in his newsletter; on his messageboard – is him talking about ideas. Where things are going and how best to capitalize on that. It’s fascinating stuff, but I’m finding that as I consider picking up his fiction I have this expectation that it’s going to be more of that. I mean, he’s a science fiction writer. Science fiction is all about predicting the future and commenting about it through stories. And honestly? I’m not a fan of hard science fiction. Give me Flash Gordon and John Carter over 2001 and the Foundation Trilogy any day (you can see how up-to-date I am on the latest sci-fi).

First of all, I need to apologize for my no-column-having self last week. My computer died suddenly on Tuesday and I just wasn’t able to get anything going for the next day. It’s still dead (and will be for a couple of weeks, most likely), but I’m able to borrow a PC for this week’s column and here we are.

As usual, our monthly look through the Previews catalog for awesome is heavily focused on graphic novels, collections, and first issues.

AdHouse

Johnny Hiro, Volume 1 – I’ve been aching a loooong time for this one. Giant lizards, lobster-quests, and opera-going ronin are hard to wait for.

Wow, has it been a week already? Welcome to another round of What Are You Reading. Our special guest this week is the mighty blogger, photographer and writer Kevin Church. To find out what he and the rest of the Robot 6 crew are currently reading, just click that little link below …